![]() There were allegations that the markets and supply were rigged by people in the government to earn supernormal profits at the expense of the people. Second, the inquiry was initiated because the government had come under a lot of flak for the sudden rise in prices of sugar and flour in January. The sugar inquiry therefore has shifted focus from the government’s handling of the pandemic to something more political. The government woke up rather late in the day to the magnitude of the crisis, and that too after the army started pushing it. This time it seems to be all of the above.įirst, the Imran Khan government has come under tremendous criticism for mishandling the COVID19 crisis. The reason is that the primary purpose of such inquiries is not to fix responsibility and hold people accountable it is to either tide over a controversy before it becomes a crisis – when the prices of medicines suddenly spiked last year because of an alleged collusion between drug companies and the health minister Aamir Kiani, the minister was sacked, but far from taking action against, he was inducted as general secretary of the party once things cooled down – or to fix an opponent and settle political scores or even deflect focus from an unfolding crisis to something completely different. Normally, in Pakistan’s Byzantine politics, such reports create some ripples before fading into oblivion. The inquiry report in and of itself is not a big deal. What remains to be seen is whether this drama will climax into a major political change in the next few weeks, or it will end in an anti-climax right now but set the stage for a political coup in the not too distant a future. ![]() That one of those who has figured in the report on the sugar ‘scam’ – Jehangir Tareen – has been the lynchpin in Imran Khan’s rise to the top in Pakistani politics, the man who bankrolled Imran Khan, has been his political trouble-shooter, his advisor on both governance and organisational matters, and his go-to man on agricultural issues, adds an edge to the political drama that is unfolding in Pakistan around this inquiry. ![]() What makes the report into the sugar and flour scam so compelling is the fact that it points in the direction of people who are not only part of the ruling dispensation but have also played a pivotal role in installing Imran Khan as Prime Minister of Pakistan and forming his party’s government in the Centre and in Punjab by corralling independent lawmakers and smaller parties.
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